


Remote Possibility

by Vakaara



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Arguing while sparring, M/M, Takes place just after their first battle on earth, Vegeta has attitude issues, mentions of injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-27 07:18:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13875924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vakaara/pseuds/Vakaara
Summary: After Goku and Vegeta’s first battle, Vegeta’s pod is accidentally called back to Earth. When Goku learns about Frieza from Vegeta, they need to decide what to do next.





	Remote Possibility

Everything hurt. Why did everything hurt? Goku tried to move his hands, curl them into fists, but pain shot up his arms and he didn’t feel like he’d managed to move at all. 

“Bulma, are you sure this is a good idea?”

“Calm down, Krillin. Honestly, what do you think he could possibly do to you when he’s looks like _that_?”

Familiar voices. Where was he? This didn’t sound like a battleground. This didn’t _feel_ like a battleground, though he sure hurt as if he was still on one. Goku tried to pry his eyes open to figure out what was going on.

“I know, Bulma, but he did just try to kill all of us! You haven’t forgotten already how Goku got like that, have you?” Krillin was stumbling to get all those words out, talking faster than he normally did. Goku wondered what Bulma was up to this time. Sounded like things were pretty normal, at least.

“Of course I haven’t forgotten!” Bulma snapped, furious, and Goku tried to wince away from the sharpness of her tone. “Goku? Goku! Are you awake?” Bulma’s voice was closer now, near Goku’s head.

“Yeh, m’wake,” Goku managed to grate out, finally cracking his eyes open to be blinded by a harsh white light. “Wher’m’ah?” 

“Goku!” Krillin had joined Bulma, and Goku managed to focus his gaze enough to see them both as pinkish blurs nearby. “Thank god! Even tough as you are, we were worried after the number Vegeta did on you!”

Right. Vegeta. That was why everything hurt. That was why he was lying in a hospital being blinded by harsh lighting while chemical cleaner scents assaulted his nose. Goku had fought the Saiyan, or maybe he should say he’d fought _a_ Saiyan, since Goku apparently was also one of those. Which he’d rather not be. Didn’t seem like they were a nice bunch at all. Pirates, his brother had said. And Vegeta had tried to blow up the Earth, Vegeta had killed his own teammate, Vegeta had been terrifyingly powerful and inexplicably magnetic, and Goku had no idea how he’d let himself become so entranced by the man’s power and grace in battle.

“Righ’, Vegeta. Good thing we ran him offa Earth, huh?” Goku’s voice was slowly coming back as he woke up, his mouth remembering how to form words as his eyes finally remembered how to focus. Krillin and Bulma’s faces, resolving from the blur, looked unexpectedly tense, worried, and… guilty? 

“Hah, yeah, you all really did do a great job running him off!” Bulma was waving her hands frantically, voice high and tight with tension, the overall effect not helping Goku in his groggy state. Somehow things were still moving quickly. Somehow things had layers. Why were there layers and fast-moving things in a hospital?

“The thing is, Goku,” Krillin’s head was tilted down, his hand that wasn’t in a cast was clenched in a fist, “he’s actually still. He’s actually on Earth.”

That couldn’t be right. Goku must have misheard. He wasn’t awake, wasn’t tracking, he must have missed something. Why would Vegeta be on Earth? They’d watched him crawl into his spacepod, defeated, and leave. Goku had felt strangely sad to see the man crawling on the ground, even though they were enemies, even though they’d been trying their damndest to kill each other. But Vegeta had left, Goku was certain of that much.

“Haha, yeah, crazy how that happened,” Bulma was continuing, neither she nor Krillin aware of Goku’s confusion. 

“Bulma, I am pretty sure he’s here _because of you_ ,” and wow, Krillin was outright blaming Bulma for something? She was definitely gonna hit him.

“It wasn’t my fault!” Bulma was protesting, “you’re the one who brought that remote back anyway, it’s at least as much your fault, if we’re going to assign blame!”

Goku watched them arguing, arms moving in sharp aborted motions, and wondered if someone was actually going to explain at some point. Or bring him food. He wasn’t going to be able to get up and find any himself, what with the shape Vegeta had left him in. Battle always made him hungry, and that one had really been a doozy. Goku was fast becoming aware that in addition to the pain from his injuries, he was _starving_. He craned his head to see if there was anyone else in the room, maybe Chi-Chi, who might think to bring him some food, but only saw a hospital bed against the far wall. Someone with a shock of messy black hair, the visible side of their face covered in bandages. 

The right side of their face and eye in bandages. Black hair. Vegeta. Goku had blasted Vegeta’s right eye in a last ditch effort to slow him down, which hadn’t done much. But. Right eye.

“Hey, Krillin?” Goku managed, “who’s that on the other side’a the room?”

Krillin and Bulma both froze in their gesturing to stare at him. “Well, uh,” Krillin started smoothly, “that’s. That’s Vegeta.”

Vegeta was on the other side of the room. In the hospital. Of course he was, he… 

“Krillin? Why?” Goku followed up, focusing on his old friend. Krillin didn’t look happy to be focused on. 

“Well, Goku, that’s… that’s because we called his spacepod back to earth by accident,” Bulma was shifting her weight uncomfortably, pushing her fingers together and pulling them apart again. “I meant to summon the spacepod that the other Saiyan came in, so we could examine it and figure out how to get to Namek, but. Well. I guess each remote is keyed to a specific pod. So we uh. We brought Vegeta back.”

There was a silence after Bulma’s explanation ended, while Goku tried to sort that out in his head. Vegeta had left, but they’d brought him back. Back to Earth. Right.

“And then we couldn’t just kill him!” Krillin blurted out, apologetic. “His pod landed outside the hospital, near the remote again I guess, and the nurses rushed out to help him and by the time we realized we just… it just didn’t seem like the right thing to do. Uh. He’s here sharing with you so we can keep an eye on him.”

“Oh,” Goku looked back at them and blinked. Vegeta was here on Earth, sharing a hospital room with Goku, because they’d brought him here. That was sure something else. “Hey, do you know when they’ll bring me any food here? I’m starvin’.”

********  
Street lights filtered in through the hospital's curtains as rain pattered on the window, and cars occasionally went past with a ssshhhing sound. Goku tried to ignore both, tried not to think about needles, and tried to actually sleep. None of those were easy in the hospital room, but he needed to sleep if he was ever going to heal. If he was ever going to get well enough to train. To become stronger than Vegeta.

It was hard not to think about Vegeta too, seeing as he was right there on the other side of Goku’s hospital room. Hard not to think about the overwhelming force of his ki, hard not to think about how he just kept getting back up no matter what Goku and the others threw at him, hard not to think about how perfectly he twisted in the air to deliver those beautifully powerful kicks to Goku’s head.

Goku jolted himself out of that train of thought with a start, surprised at himself. He’d lost badly, nearly every bone in his body broken. Why was he so stuck on admiring the man who’d done the breaking? It made no sense, even for someone as battle-obsessed as Goku. Krillin sure wouldn’t understand it. 

Vegeta had woken up enough to make trouble for the nurses, but he’d quieted quickly enough once he realized how badly he was injured. Goku had overheard the commotion, seeing as he was in the same room, but it seemed like Bulma wasn’t afraid of the Saiyan at all. Of Vegeta. He’d woken snarling, of course he’d been confused and hurting, but Bulma had yelled something about ruptured internal organs and Vegeta had stopped trying to thrash his way out of the hospital bed. Which seemed like a win, to Goku.

Now Vegeta was sleeping, as far as Goku could tell. He hadn’t acknowledged Goku’s presence at all, and Goku shouldn’t have been nearly as disappointed by that as he was. Shouldn’t have wanted to Vegeta to see how Goku was still fighting to recover from the injuries he’d sustained during their battle, slowly healing and getting ready for round two. And he desperately wanted a round two. Wanted to force Vegeta to the ground, pin him there, force him to acknowledge Goku’s strength. Goku wasn’t sure why he wanted this so badly, but he did. He simply wanted. 

********  
“Rrgghh,” Goku heard the groan coming from the other side of the room.

“You awake, Vegeta?”

“Fuck you. Fuck you and this entire planet.” 

Yep, sounded like Vegeta was awake. Though Goku couldn’t see his expression at all, what with Goku mostly having a view of just the ceiling and Vegeta’s face being half-covered in bandages. “What’s the planet even done to you, huh, Vegeta?”

“It has the most primitive medical system I’ve ever had the misfortune to be subjected to. Not to mention that it has _you_ on it.”

“Aw. What’d I do?” Goku realized as he said it that maybe that was taking the innocent questioning a little too far. It was pretty clear what he’d done. He’d prevented Vegeta from winning, and for someone as powerful as the Saiyan, clearly used to winning in every battle, well. Vegeta had made it clear that anyone who wasn’t duly ground into dust by his power was offensive on principle.

“What did you _do_?” Vegeta’s answer was the expected furious snarl. “ _What did you do?_ You’ve no idea what you’ve done! I hope he crushes you, you naive bastard.”

Wait. What? “He who, Vegeta?” Goku had clearly missed something there. Who was more powerful than Vegeta, that Vegeta thought someone else could easily crush Goku when Vegeta himself had failed?

Vegeta growled, but didn’t speak further. Goku tried and failed to shift in his coffin-like medical bindings, suddenly uncomfortable with the atmosphere in their hospital room. He who?

*******  
Goku came to groggily, not sure what had woken him from sleep. The hospital room was empty of visitors, so that wasn’t it. A clattering noise from the far wall prompted him to turn his head.

He hadn’t expected to see a well-toned ass at eye-level. Blinking, he shifted his gaze upward, unfortunately meeting Vegeta’s eyes.

“Bastard. Enjoying the show?” Vegeta shifted his weight gingerly, trying not to jolt his injuries as he moved from the bathroom back toward his bed. “This place designs its garments deliberately to remove all privacy. That’s the only possible explanation. Thrice damned planet.”

“Um. I think they just wanted to put you in something that they could take off easy when they needed to do medical stuff?” Maybe that wasn’t a good enough answer for Vegeta. Goku really hoped that his face didn’t show he kind of _had_ enjoyed the show. What had medical care looked like where Vegeta came from, anyway? “Hey, Vegeta? Where do you even normally get medical care?”

Vegeta growled, sitting carefully on the edge of his bed. He didn’t answer Goku’s question.

******  
It was raining again, the sound of the droplets against the window soothing. Goku opened his eyes slowly, wondering what had woken him this time. Not likely to be visitors - Krillin, Bulma, and Gohan were all headed toward Namek, and no one else would be here this late. He glanced toward Vegeta’s bed and found it empty.

Vegeta was leaning against the window frame, watching the city in the rain. His chin was tilted down, and his lips formed a tense line. He appeared deep in thought, and not about anything happy. Goku was struck by how still Vegeta stood, and how curled in his posture was. It was a far cry from his confident stance on the battlefield.

“Are you thinking about blowing it up?” The question startled Goku even as it emerged from his mouth. Vegeta jolted and turned to face Goku, clearly not expecting him to be awake.

“What?” Vegeta’s response was downright friendly compared to his previous interactions with Goku. Goku guessed the Saiyan wasn’t quite present in the room again yet, after being that deep in thought. He looked uncharacteristically wide-eyed.

“This city. This planet. Are you still thinking about blowing them up?” Goku stared Vegeta down, finding that he desperately wanted an honest answer to his questions. Was Vegeta still firmly in the ‘enemy’ category? Goku had seen plenty of people switch sides before. Despite what he’d told Krillin as Vegeta left earth, Goku couldn’t help but harbor a slight hope that the Saiyan _did_ have speck of decency in him, that Vegeta could maybe be more than a killing machine. He’d make one hell of a sparring partner, if he wasn’t so focused on trying to murder them all. 

Vegeta was staring out the window again, not looking at Goku. “I still hate your little mudball of a planet, Kakarot.” 

“You at least like the food though, yeah?” Hospital food wasn’t enough to sate Saiyan appetites, so first Bulma and then Bulma’s parents had been bringing Vegeta and Goku extra portions from a series of takeaway restaurants. Goku was pretty sure Vegeta had almost voiced a compliment when he’d first tasted that pizza, but he’d cut himself off my shoving even more of it into his mouth instead. 

“Better than that slop in the PTO canteens.” Vegeta froze as soon as he’d said it. Maybe he’d revealed something he meant to keep secret just then.

“What’s the PTO, Vegeta?” Goku really, really wanted to know what Vegeta had been up to before he’d arrived on earth hellbent on destroying it. Why was he so angry? Was he always that way? How did he get so strong, and how had someone with his strength ended up with all those scars Goku had seen extending from beneath his bandages? Those were long-healed, definitely not from his battle here on earth. But he’d made it sound like he’d never faced defeat before his fight with Goku, and given how strong Vegeta was Goku had been prepared to believe it. 

“The PTO,” Vegeta stopped, closed his eye. “You’ll find out soon enough, and you won’t like it.” 

Goku watched Vegeta, still staring fixedly out the window, now with his jaw clenched tight. “Is the PTO the place with that guy? The one you said you hoped would crush me?” 

Vegeta sighed, turned slightly to fix his left eye on Goku. If Goku didn’t know better, he’d say that Vegeta almost looked sad. Maybe he was just sore, standing at the window like that when he was still injured.

“Poor Kakarot.” Vegeta was probably trying for mocking with that tone, but Goku didn't think he’d quite gotten there. Mostly, Vegeta just sounded tired. “You’d love to know, wouldn’t you? You’d be so excited to have a new enemy to face. Someone else to train for. But when they arrive, you and your little friends will be obliterated in an instant. Your power is nothing. No amount of training you do will change that.”

“I dunno, Vegeta. I think I improved an awful lot in the year before I fought you. How do you know I can’t improve much more still?” Goku had never backed down from the idea of a fight before, and he wasn’t about to start now.

Vegeta returned his gaze to the view outside the window. “You have no idea how gentle this planet is. How soft your life has been. You think you’ve fought powerful enemies here? They’re nothing. You’re nothing.”

“I won’t stay that way,” Goku felt his eyebrows drawing stubbornly downward, “I’ll get stronger, Vegeta, just you wait.”

Instead of sneering, Vegeta just sighed. “You’ll die, Kakarot. You have no time, and you have no strength. All you’ll be able to do is die.”

Goku clenched his teeth at the insult, at the reminder of little Vegeta thought of Goku’s strength. How the hell could Vegeta deliver that line with such a disinterested expression? At least his usual insults to Goku were delivered as if Vegeta wanted them to hurt, but this was something else. An insult as an afterthought hurt even worse than one that was intended to do damage.

“I’ll get stronger!” Goku insisted, voice rising in frustration.

Vegeta turned his gaze back toward Goku, then shifted his weight away from the window frame. Moved slowly toward Goku, step by careful step, until he stood next to Goku’s medical coffin and stared down at him with his single unbandaged eye. The part that made Goku uneasy was how expressionless Vegeta appeared. Normally Vegeta exuded rage, which at least made it easy to stay on guard around him. Now Goku couldn’t tell what his intentions were at all.

“Poor Kakarot,” Vegeta repeated, bracing his left hand against Goku’s coffin and leaning down to bring their face closer together, “you really imagine you’ll have time to train before they get here? They’ll notice I left. They won’t let that slide. You’d better hope that they don’t get wind of the Dragonballs, or they’ll be here even sooner and with even more force.”

Goku was transfixed, staring into Vegeta’s face now mere inches away. Why was Vegeta so close, and why was Goku wishing he’d come even closer? 

“What do you mean they’ll notice you’re gone?” It was a struggle for Goku to stay focused on the conversation with Vegeta this close, so close that Goku could feel the air move with his breath. “Who the hell are _they_ Vegeta? You keep saying they’ll come, as if they’re enemies. Are they your enemies?”

“Yes,” Vegeta gave a clear answer for once, “they are absolutely my enemies, Kakarot.” A heartbeat more as Vegeta focused Goku with an intent stare from inches away, then Vegeta straightened to raise his face away from Goku’s. “Raditz came here asking you to join us, and I gave you the same offer. If you’d accepted either, you’d already know the enemies I speak of.”

Goku blinked, startled that Vegeta had brought that up. “Was that why you wanted the Dragonballs?”

Vegeta’s jaw clenched as he looked down and to the left, giving Goku a view of mostly just the bandaged side of his face. “Yes. They… or rather, that person, is the reason I wanted to Dragonballs.”

“Why couldn’t you have just asked?” Goku blurted out, then kept going after Vegeta swung his gaze back toward Goku in shock, “why couldn’t you just tell us that you needed the Dragonballs to help you defeat someone? We might have even helped you find them if you’d asked nicely!”

“If I’d asked _nicely_?” Vegeta’s eye was wide with shock, and he appeared to be having trouble forming words. “If I’d asked _nicely_ then you’d have helped me gather the Dragonballs? Objects with the power to raise the dead? You’d have helped a stranger to gather them simply for asking _nicely_?!”

“Well, yeah!” Goku shot back, frustrated that Vegeta seemed to be having trouble getting it. “If you want them to defeat a bad person, of course we’d help! Though the Dragonballs can’t get rid of anyone powerful for you, you have to use ‘em differently than that.” 

“A bad— why are you assuming I wanted to defeat a bad person with them?” Vegeta had skipped most of Goku’s response to focus on that part, for some reason.

“Well obviously it’s a bad person, since you keep saying that they’ll come here and crush me!” Although… that information alone didn’t make them sound any worse than Vegeta. Why had Goku assumed it was a bad person? Something about Vegeta’s vague references to a shadowy group sounded threatening, but why? Almost all that Vegeta had said about them was that they were strong and the food was bad. But now that Goku thought about it, maybe he did have a bit more information. 

“Wait. Vegeta, are the PTO all planet pirates? Like how my brother said the Saiyans did?” 

Vegeta’s single eye closed then opened again in surprise. “You’re not quite as stupid as I thought, Kakarot. Or perhaps you’re just a good guesser.”

“So the PTO are planet pirates? Who’s the super powerful guy you keep mentioning?” There was no way Goku was letting this go now that Vegeta was actually responding to his questions with something like real answers. 

“The PTO are,” Vegeta’s visible eyebrow drew down, then he winced slightly as the action presumably pulled at the injuries on the bandaged side of his face. “The PTO is the Planetary Trade Organization. An empire of planetary pirates, clearing planets then selling them for profit.” Here Vegeta paused to take a breath and hold it for a beat, seeming to weigh his next words. “The PTO is led by Frieza.” 

“So if Frieza’s leading it, then he’s the super powerful guy you keep mentioning?” Goku let his mouth stretch into an excited grin, thrilled to have actually gotten a name out of Vegeta. But Vegeta was grimacing, turning his body away from Goku. 

“No one should ever look that happy saying Frieza’s name.” Vegeta growled. “You certainly wouldn’t if you’d ever had the misfortune to meet him, you lucky bastard. Although,” here Vegeta turned to frown directly at Goku, “perhaps you might be the only person who could manage it even then, through either stupidity or unfathomable optimism.”

“Yeah, I’m just gonna take that as a compliment,” Goku said, smiling back at Vegeta and causing Vegeta to growl again and turn at a right angle to Goku’s medical coffin in an attempt to avoid Goku’s face completely. “So, how strong is he? Let’s make a plan! I bet if we make a plan and train, train together even, I bet we can beat him!” It was a pretty exciting thought, teaming up with Vegeta. Maybe they really could be sparring partners, preparing to defeat this Frieza guy. Even if he was pitching his plan to Vegeta’s shoulder blades at the moment.

Vegeta swung back toward Goku, face ghostly in the reflected artificial lighting permeating the hospital room. “You utter imbecile! Have you listened to a word I’ve said? He can’t be beaten! No matter how much you train!”

Goku hesitated, trying to weigh his next words before speaking again. Vegeta had fallen silent, arms clenched tightly across his chest, lips pressed tightly together. He focused on the floor near Goku’s head, not even meeting Goku’s eyes. He was shaking, Goku realized with a shock. Vegeta was standing folded in on himself and, very slightly, shaking. 

Almost as if he’d realized Goku’s observation, Vegeta hissed sharply and limped back to his own bed, putting distance between them. 

“Hey, Vegeta? I’m sorry, I guess I was taking him too lightly. I should’ve realized from what you said, but. Hey. No matter how powerful he is, the first step to beating him is getting stronger, right? Vegeta?”

Vegeta climbed back into his hospital bed and turned to face the wall, completely refusing to respond to Goku’s attempts to revive the conversation.

****  
Vegeta had never answered Goku’s question about still wanting to blow the Earth up. Goku tried not to think too hard about that as he listened to the nurses exclaiming day after day that they’d never seen anyone heal as fast as Vegeta did, that Vegeta would be good as new in no time. Except for that right eye. That was still touch and go, the damage potentially too great even for a Saiyan’s healing power.

“My, you Saiyans certainly are a resilient bunch,” Bulma’s father said in his usual mild tones as he divided the takeout between the two beds, “not even 10 days, Goku, and the worst of your injuries are already mended! You must be glad to get out of that coffin, I’d say.”

“Yeah,” Goku shoved noodles into his mouth, “I’m real glad to be out of that coffin, Mr. Bulma’s dad. Say, did you have any luck finding that thing we talked about last time?”

“Why yes, my boy, I found it right where you guessed I would. Much easier than trying reason with the national guard, I’d say. And my, what technology! It’s been a treat to look at, that it has.” Goku watched the silver head bob enthusiastically as Bulma’s dad talked. 

“That’s great! So do you think you’ll be able to, uh, do that thing?” Goku was glad that he’d gotten a chance to talk with Bulma’s dad when Vegeta had been out of the room for some check-ups a couple days ago, but Vegeta was definitely in the room now, and probably not quite distracted enough by his lunch for Goku to speak plainly. 

“Indeed, I think I’ll be able to build you a spaceship capable of reaching Namek in a week or less,” Goku’s conversation partner apparently didn’t share Goku’s concern about Vegeta learning of the spaceship conversion plan. “I might have been able to make an even faster ship if I’d been able to take apart the newer spacepod, but Bulma assured me she’d made an unbreakable promise regarding that, so. Hm.” 

“Hah, yeah,” Goku smiled weakly back at Bulma’s father and wished the man had a little more of his daughter’s sly side, “Bulma promised Vegeta that she’d leave his pod alone so he could leave earth once he’s healed.”

Although who knew how much damage Vegeta might decide to do before leaving. Goku was worried that Vegeta was healing so quickly, while Goku remained largely immobilized by his own injuries. 

“Namek,” Vegeta unexpectedly joined the conversation, “you’re planning to go to Namek, Kakarot?”

“Well, yeah,” Goku tried to weigh how much to tell Vegeta, then decided there wasn’t much point trying to hide anything more, “since you killed a bunch of my friends, we need to go there to wish them back.”

Vegeta frowned. “Why can’t you use Earth’s Dragonballs for that?” 

“Oh, well. They’re gone. With Piccolo.” Goku wondered if that was more than he should have explained, but what harm would it do at this point?

“What do you mean, with Piccolo,” Vegeta was wide-eyed in surprise, fork suspended mid-air. 

“Well, the Dragonballs were tied to Piccolo, so when he died they vanished from Earth,” Goku raised a hand toward the back of his head, but stopped part-way with a wince as his injuries pulled, “but we figure maybe we can find Dragonballs on Namek, and use those to revive Piccolo and bring back the ones we had on Earth.”

“Hmmm, yes,” Bulma’s father seemed oblivious to the tension now in the room, “it’s a solid plan, I’d say. Given what Krillin heard the Saiyans say about a link between Namekians and Dragonballs, it’s certainly the best chance we have to undo the terrible losses we suffered.”

“You call losing four idiots a terrible loss?” That was an odd part of the conversation for Vegeta to focus on with such apparent intensity, but Goku was willing to roll with it.

“Of course we do, Vegeta! They were our friends!” Goku glared across the room, past Bulma’s father who was now blinking in surprise and looking slightly alarmed. 

“Well, I suppose I’d better get back, to that spaceship,” he coughed and exited quickly, leaving just Goku and Vegeta once again.

“It’s a waste of a wish,” Vegeta’s voice was sharp. “Even if you bring those weaklings back, the end result will be the same. When Frieza arrives, he’ll crush you lot and this planet along with you.”

“Not if we train enough, he won’t,” Goku wasn’t willing to back down on this point, though Vegeta had glowered and called him an idiot plenty of times for that statement already. “Besides, you don’t know the special feature I asked Bulma’s dad to add to the spaceship.” 

“What, did you ask for a mini-fridge?” Vegeta’s tone was sarcastic. He hadn’t even known what a mini-fridge was until Bulma had to explain why she’d wanted to add one to the Namekian ship so badly. 

“No, I asked for a gravity deck. So I can train in up to 100 times Earth’s normal gravity. With that kind of training, I can surpass you in no time.” Goku probably shouldn’t have said that much, but dammit, he was tired of Vegeta mocking him. Goku would get stronger, so that when this Frieza and his PTO came to earth Goku would have no trouble defending his planet. Not like the trouble he’d had against Vegeta. 

“A gravity deck.” Vegeta looked almost impressed, and Goku was way too happy to be on the receiving end of that expression. “You might be able to increase your strength substantially, at that.”

“Exactly. If I can train to withstand 100 times earth’s normal gravity, beating this Frieza guy will be no problem!” Goku regretted the words as soon as they were out of his mouth. Vegeta’s expression was tight again, and he was refusing to look at Goku now and instead focusing too intently on his lunch.

“If beating Frieza were that easy, then I wouldn’t— “ Vegeta bit off the rest of his sentence. Goku wondered why. With the way Vegeta was holding his head, Goku couldn’t see his good eye, only the eyepatch. It made it even harder to tell what Vegeta was thinking, and that wasn’t easy to begin with.

“Kakarot, if it were that easy to beat Frieza, I could have done it already. You’re underestimating him. I’ve told you already, in a battle he would crush you.”

“Fight with me, then!” Goku pushed his favorite idea again. “You’re incredibly strong, Vegeta! If we trained together… if we fought together… just think what we could do, then!”

Vegeta tilted his head back and laughed. Goku hoped he’d be let in on the joke soon.

“So now you’re the one pitching a team up, Kakarot?” Vegeta was smirking as he turned back toward Goku. “When I suggested that previously, I seem to recall that you declined. Something about how being my partner didn’t look like it had good job security.”

“Well, I—” Now that he thought about it, Goku actually had received that offer and declined. “You were being really evil then, and you hurt my friends! Teaming up to defeat this Frieza guy is completely different!”

“Idiot. You haven’t realized by now that Raditz and I wanted you to join us so we had more Saiyans to fight against Frieza?” Vegeta’s tone was disdainful. “Not that you’d have been much use, as Raditz first found you.”

“I guess I didn’t realize,” Goku said, trying to piece things together in his head, “but if it’s what you originally wanted, why not agree to it now? Why not team up now for training and fighting Frieza?” 

Vegeta blinked slowly, jaw dropping slightly as he seemed to search for words. “That’s. That’s not the point, Kakarot.”

“What’s the point, then?” Goku was lost. Weren’t they going in circles? 

“The _point_ is that we’re stuck here until we heal with this planet’s primitive technology, and we have no idea what Frieza is doing or when the PTO will reach this backwater planet. How can we plan to train and fight him under those conditions?”

“I’ll just ask King Kai, then!” That was an easy answer for a change. “Hey, King Kai, it’s me Goku! I have a question! Can you tell me where Frieza is now?”

Goku had just shouted at the ceiling, and Vegeta was giving him a look like Goku had dropped several levels of intelligence in Vegeta’s eyes, but if King Kai came back with an answer then it was still Goku’s win.

“Goku! Just how many bad decisions in a row are you trying to make?” King Kai’s voice was nasal and grating in the confines of the hospital room, and Vegeta jumped and looked around wildly for the source. 

“Aw, King Kai, just tell me? I hear he’s really strong, I really wanna fight him next!”

“You imbecile! That’s suicide! No one in their right mind would want to fight Frieza!” King Kai sounded really worked up this time. “I’ll tell you where he is, but only so that you can stay out of his way! You got that?” 

“Sure, King Kai! Uh, training counts as staying out of his way right?”

That sounded like a strangled scream in response from King Kai, but so long as Goku actually got a location from him that was fine. 

“No!! No, this is unthinkable! The worst! If he succeeds… if he succeeds then the universe won’t survive it!” That was a pretty dramatic statement even for King Kai.

“Won’t survive what, King Kai?” Goku’s voice was still calm. It sounded like King Kai had located Frieza at least.

“Frieza! The Dragonballs! He’s on Namek! He’s going to… oh my heavens, he’s collecting the Dragonballs! Whatever he’s going to use them for… it will be the end!” 

“Frieza’s on Namek?!” Vegeta’s face was almost white, his fists clenched in the hospital sheets. “He’s collecting the Dragonballs?! But - but he must be planning to wish for immortality! We can’t allow - we can’t allow him to collect them!” Goku thought he could see Vegeta trembling again, still an unthinkable reaction for someone as powerful on the battlefield as Vegeta had proven to be. Maybe this Frieza really was that strong.

“Goku, I’m so sorry,” King Kai was speaking again, “your friends who died… it’s too risky to try to collect the Namekian Dragonballs. You need to tell your son to turn around and head back to earth.”

“Yeah,” Goku felt his heartbeat speeding up, worried about Gohan, Krillin, and Bulma. “Sounds like there’s no way they can beat this Frieza guy.” 

“It won’t matter,” Vegeta’s voice was flat, his shoulders slumped. “If Frieza collects the Dragonballs and achieves immortality, the end for this planet will only happen sooner.”

“Well, you said we were going to be crushed anyway, so.” Goku wasn’t sure where Vegeta was going with this. Seemed like all paths led to defeat, the way he told it. “If Frieza doesn’t have a Dragon radar, it’ll take him some time to get all the balls together. I’ll tell Gohan and the others to turn back. Then you and I will head to Namek and train on the way, soon as we can, and crush the bastard.”

Vegeta faced Goku with a shell shocked expression. “You’re insane.” 

“You’re _definitely_ insane!” King Kai was still with them.

“Okay, okay, we won’t crush him then… we’ll just get to Namek and collect the Dragonballs first, that way Frieza won’t be able to use ‘em!” That sounded like a solid plan to Goku, “we’ll use Bulma’s Dragon radar, it’ll be easy!”

“That woman has a device that can find the Dragonballs?!” Vegeta had snapped out of his horrified daze enough to take in that information. Whoops. Goku probably shouldn’t have told him that. He really wasn’t very good at remembering Vegeta was supposed to be his enemy. 

“Yeah. Anyway, like I said, it’ll be easy! We’ll just keep Frieza from getting the Dragonballs for now. Then we can keep training until we’re strong enough to beat him! There’s no way I’m going to just sit around waiting for him to show up and crush me and planet Earth.” 

“That,” Vegeta drew in a breath as if to argue, then let it out in a rush, “that’s probably as good a plan as any at this point. Our first priority should be keeping Frieza from gaining immortality.” 

“I hate to say it, but I agree with the Saiyan,” King Kai really did sound like he hated to say it. “I’ll tell your friends to turn around, and we’ll hope that you two can get there in time. If not…” 

“We’ll get there in time,” Goku had to be certain that they would, because what other option did they have? “We’ll get there in time, we’ll mess up this Frieza’s plan, and then later we’ll beat him to a pulp.” He turned to Vegeta, letting his smile go sharp at the edges as a wild grin formed. “Right, Vegeta?”

Vegeta bared his teeth in return, the expression too harsh to be called a grin. “Yes, Kakarot. We’ll mess up his plan, then beat him to a pulp.” Throwing his head back, Vegeta laughed wildly. Goku thought there was a hint of panic to the sound.

*******  
Goku collapsed spreadeagled to the floor of the gravity deck, panting and looking up at the ceiling. Since leaving Earth earlier that day he and Vegeta had been training constantly in 20G, going for hours without pause. To master the kaioken technique Goku was retraining from the basics, starting with simple pushups and katas. If Vegeta was agreeable, then he’d alternate that with sparring. Nothing else improved battle skills quite so much as actually fighting. 

Vegeta still hadn’t so much as paused for breath. Goku let his head tilt to the side so he could watch the Saiyan’s training. Like Goku, Vegeta had seemingly restarted from the basics. But his movements were unlike anything Goku had seen on earth, too fluid and flexible. Goku had noticed that during their battle too, had filed it away for later when he wasn’t struggling to survive. 

Since Vegeta’s battlesuit had been destroyed during their fight he was wearing earth-style workout clothes now, having declined a gi while growling that he refused to wear the same thing as Goku. But at some point during his training Vegeta had pulled his shirt off, leaving just lose sweatpants. Goku found his eyes drawn to the sweat beading between Vegeta’s shoulder blades. Watching as the beads moved downward in a slow caress of skin. Vegeta’s skin was littered with scars, and Goku had a powerful urge to run his fingers along one.

Shivering slightly, Goku refocused his attention on the ceiling for a moment, then drew himself upright. He needed to continue his training. As soon as their ship landed on Namek, they’d have to find and confront Frieza. King Kai had contacted the Nameks to warn them of Frieza’s evil, and they had managed to better hide the Dragonballs - apparently Frieza didn’t have a Dragon radar - but it was still only a matter of time before the PTO collected all seven. They needed to use their time wisely. Even though the senzu beans had rapidly healed the, even restoring Vegeta’s right eye, they’d wasted a lot of time waiting for the beans to grow. When they touched down on Namek, they had to be ready to win.

Before leaving earth Goku had promised Gohan, just returned from his own space travels, that Goku would do everything in his power to use the Namekian Dragonballs to wish back everyone killed by the Saiyans. Even if it was secondary to the objective of keeping Frieza from gaining immortality, Goku wasn’t willing to give up on resurrecting his friends so easily. And the more power he had, the more likely it was that he could make his own wish. Goku clenched his teeth as he began another round of pushups. This was no time to be distracted by his training partner’s appearance. 

*************  
Vegeta’s foot connected with the side of Goku’s head in a vicious kick, slamming Goku to the floor. The pain was intense, and Goku couldn’t stop grinning as he rolled sideways to avoid a fist to the face. Twenty times earth’s normal gravity pulled at Goku as he got his feet under himself and pushed back up, and he wasn’t fast enough to guard against Vegeta’s next punch before it cracked against his jaw.

“Idiot,” Vegeta’s foot connected painfully with Goku’s ribs as Goku curled to his side on the training room floor, struggling to draw breath. “Overconfident fool,” another kick, this one landing on Goku’s stomach, forcing a painful cough from him. “You think you can beat Frieza with that?!” Goku continued coughing as Vegeta grabbed a fistful of Goku’s gi and dragged him to Vegeta’s eye level to receive the full force of his disdainful glower.

“We’re not done trainin’ yet, Vegeta,” Goku managed to wheeze out. “The whole point of training is to get stronger than we are now, right?”

“Utterly pathetic,” Vegeta spat out, dropping Goku. In the intense gravity, Goku slammed into the floor hard, breath knocked out of him yet again. 

“It’d be even more pathetic to give up without even trying to get stronger.” Goku was sick and tired to dealing with Vegeta’s temper. At least for the moment they had a common goal. Was Vegeta simply incapable of teamwork? Given what he’d done to his last teammate, maybe he was. 

Without warning, Vegeta dropped to straddle Goku, cutting off Goku’s air by placing his forearm across Goku’s throat. Pinned on his back and already aching from their sparring earlier, Goku twisted frantically to find purchase enough to shove Vegeta off of him. 

“Look at me, you bastard,” Vegeta’s eyes were bright and not quite sane as he brought his face down until his nose nearly touched Goku’s, “how dare you. How _dare_ you speak so confidently about an opponent you have no measure of! You think your little Earth has prepared you for true battles? Imbecile! As if defeating Frieza were so simple! As if no one other that you could have possibly thought of something like _training more_. You think you’re some kind of battle genius, just because you want to get stronger?! Your naivety makes me sick!”

All Goku managed in return was a weak gasping noise, since he still couldn’t draw air. Vegeta stood abruptly, releasing the pressure on Goku’s windpipe, and strode to the far side of the training deck before resuming his kata. Apparently their sparring was over for the day. 

*****  
Goku’s fist connected with Vegeta’s abdomen, forcing Vegeta back. Following up on the momentary advantage, Goku put on another quick burst of energy with the instantaneous kaioken he’d been working on, and brought his opposite fist in to catch Vegeta across the cheekbone. Vegeta went down hard, but caught himself on one hand and swept a leg toward Goku’s ankles in a graceful pivot. Goku was forced to dart backward to avoid tripping, giving Vegeta time to regain his feet in a flash.

They watched each other across the short space they’d opened, each scanning for tells how of the other would move next. Goku was satisfied to note that several bruises were already coloring Vegeta’s bared skin. Even though this was only their third day training, Goku had been improving his kaioken mastery in leaps and bounds. Without the kaioken’s boost Vegeta still had more raw power, but by using the kaioken strategically Goku had fought him to this momentary standstill today, even as Vegeta’s own power was rapidly increasing under their strict gravity training regime. 

“What are you grinning about, you bastard,” Vegeta wasn’t one to keep quiet during a fight. “You think landing a couple hits for a change proves something? You’re still trash!”

Goku just smiled back. Vegeta could talk all he wanted, but Goku knew he was gaining ground. It’d be pretty damn satisfying if Vegeta actually acknowledged Goku’s strength, of course, but Goku wasn’t going to let the insults bother him. 

The lack of response seemed to enrage Vegeta, and he launched himself directly at Goku. Angling to the side, Goku brought his forearm up to deflect the fist aimed at his face and force Vegeta off balance, before bringing the side of his opposite hand sharply into Vegeta’s now-exposed rib cage. 

Vegeta recovered quickly then dropped and twisted, pivoting on one leg to bring his opposite foot up toward Goku’s head, but Goku had already moved away. Grasping Vegeta’s ankle, Goku moved to swing his opponent across the room, but Vegeta caught him in the stomach with a blast of ki. Goku released his hold as he staggered back, winded since he’d been caught without the extra powerup of the kaioken at that instant. Vegeta pressed his advantage to kick Goku’s legs from under him and slam Goku to the floor, twisting both of Goku’s arms against Goku’s back in a position that was both painful and completely prevented further movement by Goku.

“Your loss, Kakarot,” Vegeta was panting, and Goku could feel the warmth of Vegeta’s breath against his neck as Vegeta pinned him to the floor. “Looks like you can’t overcome your inferior blood after all.”

“I dunno, Vegeta,” Goku was grinning again, pleased in spite of his loss. “We still have four days to go until we reach Namek, and we’re only on 40G now. You think you can stay ahead of me that much longer?” It was reckless to push Vegeta like this with his volatile temper, but Goku couldn’t stop. “I’m catching up, you know. Closing the gap. By the time we land, you might just have to acknowledge that I’m stronger than you, blood or no blood.”

Predictably, Vegeta responded by snarling and twisting Goku’s arms even farther up Goku’s back, increasing the pain to a searing level. It was a good thing Vegeta had both hands occupied at the moment, or Goku would have been on the receiving end of some painful blows. As it was, Goku hoped Vegeta would stop twisting before anything in Goku’s arms actually tore. 

“How dare you, Kakarot! You think that just because I’ve lowered myself to spar with you I could ever see you as even an equal? I’ll let you live long enough to wipe out Frieza, but after that, I’ll finish you.”

“But you’ll leave Earth alone.” They’d had this conversation before, in the hospital room after they’d agreed to work together against Frieza. Goku hadn’t mentioned that part to his friends and family. Defeating Frieza before he and his PTO came anywhere near Earth came first. Goku surviving had always been secondary. Vegeta had given his word that he wouldn’t harm Earth even if Goku died, and Goku had decided to believe that he’d stick to it. 

Vegeta abruptly let go of Goku’s arms. Goku pushed himself up and found Vegeta balanced on the balls of his feet, still on the ground next to Goku, wearing a slightly stunned expression. “That’s all you have to say, Kakarot? You’re fine with dying as long as that little mudball stays unharmed? It isn’t even your home.”

“It is my home,” Goku wasn’t budging on that point. “I don’t care where I was born, Earth is my home now.”

“Hm.” Vegeta wasn’t looking directly at Goku anymore, focusing somewhere slightly to the side. Goku was struck again by a sense of the sheer power contained in Vegeta’s compact form, even when he was merely sitting balanced rather than launching an attack. “But you’re not human, Kakarot. Even your little Earth friends are starting to understand that.”

Goku swallowed, remembering the round of awkward goodbyes as they’d set off for Namek. It was true that Bulma, Krillin, Yamcha, even Master Roshi… none of them had been able to understand why Goku would willingly head toward a battle so unwinnable, or why he was so excited to train and become stronger along the way. They’d understood even less how he could stand the idea of being stuck on a tiny spaceship for a week with a man who’d nearly killed him. Chi-Chi had refused to see him off, keeping both herself and Gohan far away from Vegeta. Which made sense, really, since Vegeta hadn’t hesitated to attempt killing Gohan even though Gohan was a child. So why did Goku have such deep certainty that the upcoming battle was more important than past injuries, and why was his blood singing at the thought of once again crossing fists with someone who would test his strength to the limit?

“You’re far too battle hungry to be a human,” Vegeta continued. “Sooner or later, they would have started to question that, even if your brother had never found you.” 

“What’s your point, Vegeta?” Goku couldn’t see what Vegeta was driving at here, other than to put Goku off balance. Which was working more than Goku wanted to admit. 

Vegeta’s eyes were dark and unreadable as he turned back toward Goku. “You don’t have a home, Kakarot. Not really. No more than any other Saiyan does, now.”

**********  
Goku shoved more eggs into his mouth and watched as Vegeta continued to press different buttons on the coffee maker. He’d been at it for at least 10 minutes now, and Goku didn’t think Vegeta realized he had an audience. It gave Goku a chance to watch Vegeta when Vegeta’s frustration was focused on something other than Goku for a change. He’d learned that Vegeta had a habit of pressing his thumb against his lips when he was deep in thought, an action that drew Goku’s eyes to said lips every time Vegeta repeated it. Vegeta’s mouth was currently compressed into an angry line, which Goku considered a step down from a few moments earlier when Vegeta’s thumb had been accentuating the curve of his pursed lower lip.

Vegeta stopped pushing buttons and started opening levers again, a step Goku had already seen him try at least once. This time he apparently noticed something different, though, since he turned and started hunting through the cupboards near the coffeemaker. 

As he swallowed the last of his eggs, Goku realized he no longer had a reason to linger at the small kitchen table. He gazed around the room for moment, wondering about grabbing more food from the fridge or cupboards. For now he was actually full, though. Vegeta set his own plate of food on the table with a clatter, warning glare reminding Goku not to touch the Saiyan’s food. The coffee maker was burbling now and the scent of coffee was starting to fill the room, so it seemed like Vegeta had finally conquered the thing. 

“Did you have coffee at the PTO?” Even though Goku’s previous attempts at conversation hadn’t been well received, he couldn’t seem to stop himself from trying. 

“No,” Vegeta’s mouth turned down. “We had something called Eaben, which bears some resemblance to coffee if you remove all flavors other than bitterness. But no coffee.”

That was one of the longest civil sentences Goku had gotten from Vegeta in a while. Maybe he was actually in a good mood this morning? They hadn’t spoken again after Vegeta’s parting shot yesterday about Goku’s lack of home, but maybe that had actually given Vegeta time to regain what passed as calm for him.

Vegeta returned to the table with a mug of coffee clasped in one gloved hand. Goku hadn’t seen him without the fingerless gloves since Vegeta had been checked out of the hospital, even when Vegeta had taken his shirt off during training. It had the effect of making his hands seem oddly forbidden.

“You really like it though, huh? Coffee, I mean. I prefer tea, coffee’s still too bitter for me, that eaben stuff sounds awful.” Was he making small talk? Goku was pretty sure he didn’t normally make small talk. Maybe it was just the effect of being trapped in such confined quarters, in space, training intensively with some who still had the aura of intended murder.

“It’s not bad.” Vegeta continued being oddly civil. “Earth’s food in general is a point in the planet’s favor.” The pile of eggs and potatoes in front of Vegeta was steadily diminishing. On the first day Goku had watched Vegeta create some kind of open-faced sandwich consisting of pickles, peanut butter, and raw chicken using an entire pre-made pizza in place of bread, but maybe Goku’s expression had given away that Vegeta’s breakfast was a little unusual by Earth standards. Since that point Vegeta seemed to be subtly copying whatever Goku ate. 

“Where will you go after?” Goku’s voice stayed level and light as he asked what was probably a fatally invasive question of Vegeta. 

Vegeta raised his eyes from his food to look at Goku in surprise again. “What?”

“After we defeat Frieza. Where will you go then? You don’t seem like you want to stay with the PTO, right?” He probably shouldn’t have asked. 

So far Vegeta wasn’t reacting with the anger Goku had expected. His expression was unreadable. “That’s not your business. And you’re assuming we’ll beat him.”

“Yeah, I guess. I just figured, it’s nice to have something to look forward to right? I’m looking forward to heading back to Earth and going fishing with my son once this is all over.” Goku kept his tone light again, but Vegeta’s expression had turned slightly grim. He didn’t answer Goku this time, and just turned his attention back to his breakfast.

“Well, let’s both do our best training today, right Vegeta? I mean, we have been anyway, but,” Goku trailed off, wondering if the standard Earth encouragement counted as an insult when you were speaking to a battle hardened Saiyan.

“I would expect no less from either of us, Kakarot,” Vegeta said in yet another unexpectedly level response. Goku watched his sparring partner alternate between eggs and coffee and felt his face curving into a quiet smile. Maybe they could get a handle on this teamwork thing before arriving on Namek after all. 

*****

Vegeta tilted his head back to expose the long line of his throat, and Goku licked his lips. Forced his attention back to the sport drink he held in his own hand. Slipped up and glanced back at Vegeta to watch his throat work as he swallowed. How were Vegeta’s movements so distracting? It didn’t help that he’d removed his shirt again, so Goku had an unobstructed view of his leanly muscled torso and the scars that criss crossed it.

“Ready, Kakarot?” Vegeta turned to Goku with a confident smirk. “You got lucky yesterday, but today I’ll put you back in your place.”

They were on their fifth day of training, the gravity turned to a punishing 80G. Goku was steadily gaining confidence in his improved burst application of the kaioken, and had also managed to push himself up to using kaioken at 20x rather than topping out at 4x as he had previously. He’d only gone up to 10x in their spar yesterday, wanting to perfect the technique further in training before bringing it against Vegeta. But after his morning’s work, he was confident in using 20x in battle without damaging himself. 

Goku grinned wildly back, letting the points of his canines show. It was a grin that had alarmed his earth friends at times, but he didn’t need to worry about that with Vegeta. “I’m ready, Vegeta. Question is, are you? You might not like the place I find myself in today.”

Vegeta tilted his head back and laughed without reserve, the laugh Goku had heard during their first battle right before Vegeta pummeled him. As before, the fierce feral tone only increased Goku’s excitement, widening his grin further and sending shivers up his spine. 

There was no agreed on signal to start the spar, but them moved in unison to attack regardless. The first clash ended in a draw, Vegeta’s kick blocked by Goku’s arm, and the next clash did as well, Goku’s fist caught in Vegeta’s palm. Goku stepped up the kaioken with each round, pushing his ki up and raising both his speed and power. Vegeta continued to block Goku’s attacks as they moved across the gravity deck, but Goku could see the pace was starting to wear on him. Soon Vegeta would stumble, and Goku’s blows would land. 

Vegeta seemed to sense this too, and bared his teeth to snarl at Goku as he pushed to attack. Even as Goku could tell that he’d win this round with his improved kaioken, he delighted in the force behind the punches and kicks Vegeta aimed at him. This would be a win, but not an easy one. Even though he was working with only raw power rather than the boosting force of the kaioken, Vegeta’s speed and smooth movements were a lethal dance. Even with the kaioken, if Goku missed a step he’d be severely injured today. 

Goku did not miss a step. Pushing the kaioken all the way to 20x, he hooked Vegeta’s leg out from under him with a blow to the side of Vegeta’s knee. As Vegeta shifted to regain his balance, Goku landed a punch against his sternum too quickly to block, slamming Vegeta brutally to the floor in the 80G training environment. Goku followed him down, straddling Vegeta and pinning Vegeta’s arms to the floor above his head with one hand. Looking down on his opponent, Goku showed his teeth in a tense grin. “Your loss, Vegeta.”

Vegeta snarled and twisted, refusing to yield. His attempts to buck Goku off did nothing but bring their bodies together with a surprisingly pleasant pressure.

“ _Your loss_ Vegeta,” Goku wanted him to acknowledge it. Vegeta hadn’t properly acknowledged Goku’s win yesterday, and Goku was damned if he’d let that happen twice. Especially with Vegeta’s attitude at the start of their spar today.

“Fuck you, Kakarot,” Vegeta spat, glaring and still utterly refusing to yield.

Goku grinned back. “Good idea.” It was, wasn’t it? Vegeta was still pinned in place under him, and Goku leaned down to press their lips together. 

Vegeta wasn’t in favor. He tried to bite Goku, and twisted even more wildly. Goku backed off, wondering if he’d misstepped after all despite what he thought he’d started to understand about the tension between them these past weeks. Vegeta stared up at him, panting.

“Let go.” Didn’t sound like Vegeta was kidding. Goku released his wrists, bracing for a blow. Instead Vegeta brought both hands up to fist them in Goku’s hair, movements too slow to be an attack, and dragged Goku back toward him. The kiss this time was open-mouthed and messy, and after a heartbeat Vegeta closed his teeth against Goku’s lower lip nearly tightly enough to be painful. Goku groaned in surprise and gripped Vegeta’s waist with both hands to anchor himself, running his thumbs down the warm bare skin over Vegeta’s ribs. 

Vegeta released Goku’s lip to close his teeth against Goku’s neck instead, not quite breaking the skin but exerting enough force to be on the edge of pain. He eased off the pressure to almost a caress, then shifted upwards to lick Goku’s jawline, moving one hand from Goku’s hair to tug at the gi waistband. 

Goku agreed with that idea, there was too much fabric between them right now. He shifted his hands to Vegeta’s shoulders to push Vegeta back down, and this time Vegeta went without fight. Goku pressed his lips against Vegeta’s neck, feeling Vegeta shiver slightly in response. The gi fastening was taking too long to come undone, and Goku was about ready to tear it when it finally gave. He sat up to free both arms and push his gi and shirt over his head.

When Goku looked back down Vegeta’s gaze was attentive and hungry, tracing along Goku’s newly exposed skin. Vegeta raised a hand to tease one of Goku’s nipples, his other hand settling on Goku’s waist as if to hold him still.

Even though he was still straddling Vegeta, Goku didn’t feel like he was in control of this. And they were both still wearing far too much clothing. Not to mention… 

“Hey, Vegeta?” Goku’s eyes had closed in pleasure, and he forced them back open to see Vegeta wearing an amused expression.

“Can’t you shut up with your inane questions even during sex?” Vegeta asked. 

“It’s just. Should we turn the gravity off? Or at least down?” It took immense amounts of ki to exist in 80G. Right now Goku wanted to relax and let go, but his body was sending warning signals every time he started to loosen his grip on his ki control. It was distracting.

“Get up and turn it off, then,” Vegeta sounded unconcerned, as if the gravity made no difference to him either way. 

Goku pushed himself upright, regretting the loss of contact as soon as he did. It took only a few seconds to dial the gravity down to 1G, and the feeling of weightlessness that came with the gravity reduction was almost euphoric in itself.

Then Vegeta was standing behind Goku, wrapping his hands around Goku’s waist to push Goku’s pants out of the way. Goku tilted his head back and groaned again as Vegeta wrapped one hand around Goku’s erection while biting at Goku’s neck, holding their bodies flush together with Goku’s back against Vegeta’s chest. Vegeta’s hand moved against Goku with maddening slowness, stroking his already hard cock. Goku licked his lips and wished for more. 

“Kakarot,” Vegeta hooked his chin over Goku’s shoulder, his stroking continuing with that maddening slow pace while he added an occasional twist of his wrist to wring even more groans from Goku.

“Yeah, Vegeta?” Goku was probably going to agree to it, whatever it was. 

“Stay.” Vegeta punctuated the command by gripping Goku’s jaw and focusing his gaze out one of the spaceports. Then Vegeta’s warmth was gone from Goku’s back, and Goku was left wondering what the hell was happening. It was still dark outside. Did that mean it was always night in space?

Within moments Vegeta was back, grabbing a fistful of Goku’s hair to spin him around, then moving to push Goku against the curved wall of their spaceship. Hands on Goku’s hips, Vegeta lifted him as if he weighed nothing, and Goku automatically placed his hands on Vegeta’s shoulders and wrapped his legs around Vegeta’s hips as Vegeta pressed him easily into the wall. At this distance Goku could see tiny details he’d missed before. Vegeta’s eyelashes were surprisingly long, swept over half-lidded eyes, creating a contrast to the sharpness of his grin and teeth. 

There was no more warning before Goku felt Vegeta pushing into him, blunt and wider than Goku thought would fit inside him. And surprisingly slick. Had he gone to get something slippery just then, and was this how two men had sex? Goku hadn’t given it thought before. Then Vegeta’s cock inside Goku brushed something incredible, and Goku was gone, yelling for more. Vegeta obliged, thrusting into Goku in a steady rhythm, somehow controlled and loose at the same time. Goku closed his eyes and gave himself up to the sensation, gasping encouragement and approval as they moved together in perfect rhythm for long moments. 

Goku’s hands slid down Vegeta’s back, nails scraping skin. Vegeta hissed and readjusted his grip on Goku’s hips, bringing his own nails to bear almost painfully against Goku’s skin. Goku’s breathing was uneven, his usual perfect control of his body barely there in the face of so many intense new sensations. He tilted his head back against the ship wall and groaned, “Vegeta, please.”

Vegeta gasped and came, warmth spilling inside Goku as they continued to move together. Goku whimpered at the change in sensation, trying to pull Vegeta closer to him to somehow regain it. Instead Vegeta released Goku’s hips, encouraging Goku’s feet toward the ground. Once Goku’s feet were firmly planted again Vegeta unexpectedly dropped to his knees, sliding his tongue against Goku’s cock. There might have been more, but the unexpected sensation was more than enough to push Goku over the edge. Vegeta jolted away enough that most of the mess landed on his chest rather than his face, but to Goku’s hazed eyes he didn’t look overly impressed. 

Goku leaned back against the wall, panting, as Vegeta stood. Vegeta grasped Goku’s chin again, forcing Goku to look him in the eyes. Not that Goku had an objection.

“Can we do that again, Vegeta?” The words spilled easily, no thought as to what this might do to the fragile balancing act between them.

Vegeta’s grin was all teeth again. “That depends, Kakarot. On whether we win.”

******  
Goku found Vegeta in the kitchen, freshly showered and cradling a cup of coffee. Vegeta’s gaze was fixed on the coffee, rather than the spaceport set just above the kitchen table. 

“We’ll win, Vegeta,” those felt like the right words to Goku. And the words felt true. They would win. Frieza would fall. 

Vegeta tensed, still looking at his coffee. “We’re sure as hell going to try.” His voice sounded rougher than usual, as though he’d had to push to get those words out.

“Y’know, Vegeta, I’m actually pretty good at making it through supposed no-win situations,” Goku joined Vegeta at the table, keeping his face relaxed in a gentle smile. 

Instead of accepting the reassurance, Vegeta clenched his jaw more tightly and angled his body away from Goku. “You still don’t understand, Kakarot. You still don’t understand how powerful he is.”

“Could you tell me?” That was the softest phrasing Goku could think of for the question. The more time he spent with Vegeta, the more he sensed that this Frieza, this PTO, somehow held Vegeta trapped in place. On Earth Vegeta had seemed fearless, but once Frieza entered the picture all Vegeta’s confidence seemed to translate into tension. 

Vegeta’s hands both tensed around the coffee mug. He kept both eyes fixed on the dark liquid, not looking at Goku. “I… I can’t tell you, Kakarot.”

“Why can’t you?” That was an odd phrasing for Vegeta to use.

“Because. If I tell you,” Vegeta let out a soft exhalation of air, “if I tell you, Kakarot.” 

He didn’t finish the sentence, leaving Goku none the wiser. 

“It seems like you’re scared of him, Vegeta,” Goku pushed a little harder.

His efforts gained only silence. Vegeta continued to sit nearly motionless, curled around the coffee as if it were somehow a lifeline. 

“That’s. I mean, if someone as powerful as you is afraid of Frieza then he must really be something, right?” Since Vegeta hadn’t lashed out yet, Goku was going to keep pushing. Just a little bit more.

Vegeta made an odd noise in his throat, and closed his eyes. “You’re not wrong, Kakarot. Frieza. He’s.” Here Vegeta seemed unable to continue again. Goku waited quietly.

“I do fear him,” Vegeta’s words were nearly a whisper, spoken to the cup of coffee rather than to Goku. “Frieza has… he’s dealt more pain to me than any other being. Yet I.” Goku watched as Vegeta swallowed, struggling to continue. His voiced dropped even lower, so that Goku had to strain to hear. “I served him for years because the alternative was death. Earth was a gamble. If I have lost it….”

After grating those words out Vegeta fell completely silent, head lowered and eyes nearly closed in tension. But the situation was clear to Goku, now. The reason Vegeta had been so desperate, so deadly on Earth.

“We’ll beat him,” Goku repeated, willing Vegeta to look up and meet his eyes. Vegeta did not do so. “Vegeta, we’ve gotten so much stronger over just these past five days. There are two of us. Together, we’ll beat him.”

“I hope you’re right, Kakarot,” Vegeta was still speaking in nearly a whisper, still not looking at Goku, but still. Goku was going to count this as a win. And he wasn’t wrong, he couldn’t be. When they got to Namek, they’d destroy Frieza. Maybe then he’d get to meet Vegeta properly. 

********  
100G. They’d reached the highest setting of their training room on the 6th day. Goku was continuing to train from basics to master the kaioken, and over the morning had managed to reach 30x, and to hold it. 

Vegeta pushed himself to his feet, teeth gritted. “Don’t think I’ll acknowledge you as an equal just because we had sex, Kakarot.”

“Sure thing, Vegeta. How about acknowledging me as an equal since I’ve landed you on your ass five times already today?” His individual training had paid off, and Goku hadn’t lost a single sparring round to Vegeta today. With the 30x kaioken, he was easily able to both overpower and outpace the other Saiyan. Vegeta seemed to know it, but he wasn’t going to give Goku the satisfaction of saying so out loud. 

Launching himself at Goku with another kick aimed at Goku’s head, Vegeta started their spar moving again. Goku dropped the kaioken to 25x, focusing on staying just barely ahead of Vegeta. That would hone Goku’s reflexes, and push Vegeta to surpass his own current speed limitations. The most effective way to train to defeat Frieza. If Frieza was really as powerful as Vegeta and King Kai said, Goku and Vegeta would need to reach still new heights of power to defeat him, and the best way to do that was together.

“Say, Vegeta,” Goku used his left hand to press Vegeta’s right fist outward to a harmless path alongside Goku’s ribs instead of the painful impact Vegeta had aimed at Goku’s solar plexus.

“What, Kakarot,” Vegeta’s response was growled as he pivoted on his left foot to aim the right in a powerful arc toward Goku’s stomach.

“It’s just,” Goku leaped backward out of the path of Vegeta’s foot, “do you think we should practice teamwork, as well as sparring with each other?”

“ _What?_ ” Vegeta’s voice had gotten higher pitched, and he followed up his kick with a dive toward Goku aiming to plant a fist in Goku’s face, “what are you even talking about?”

Had Vegeta never heard of teamwork? Goku dodged the fist to his face, and landed a solid kick against Vegeta’s ribs while Vegeta was still stretched into a forward lunge. “You know, practicing to coordinate our attacks against a common enemy? That’s what teamwork is, right?”

“How the hell do you propose we practice that while we’re in here?” Vegeta recovered his footing after Goku’s attack and spun to face Goku again, but Goku was already pressing in to land a punch to Vegeta’s stomach. Vegeta went down coughing.

Goku paused to let Vegeta get his breath back. “Well, I guess it is a bit harder since there’s nothing we could practice hitting together… but we could at least practice aiming attacks in the same direction without tripping each other up.” 

Vegeta rose from the floor, glaring at Goku. “That’s a stupidly simple goal, Kakarot.”

“Well then it shouldn’t take us long to hit it, right?” Goku grinned at Vegeta. “Let’s give it a go! And if we’ve already got it down, then we can just go back to training as usual!”

There was a momentary upward quirk to Vegeta’s lips before his expression returned to his usual glare. “If you insist, Kakarot. I suppose we can take a few minutes to ascertain that we won’t trip each other up, as you put it, on the battlefield.”

“Awesome!” It was what Goku had been hoping for since his first battle with Vegeta, to be honest. Fighting alongside each other to defeat a common enemy. Allies. Perfect. Grinning, Goku moved to stand next to Vegeta, ready for their simulated attack against an imagined enemy. Vegeta looked less disdainful than usual, and Goku imagined for a moment that maybe the other Saiyan was enjoying this too.

****

The spaceship touched down on Namek with a gentle, anticlimactic clunk. As the door whirred open and Goku and Vegeta exited, no one rushed up to meet them. 

Goku grinned. “Sounds like King Kai was right about the Namekians destroying their energy detections devices. They have no idea we’re even here.”

Vegeta’s laugh was chilling. “Then I guess we’ll just have to introduce ourselves.

“Yeah. Together, right?” Goku turned to his training partner with a fierce grin.

After a moment’s hesitation, Vegeta, grinned back. “Yes, Kakarot. Together.”


End file.
